Police were hunting a killer last night after a motorist was shot dead as he drove his Land Rover.

The victim, aged 35, died after the bullet smashed through the windscreen and hit him in the head.

He veered across the road and crashed head-on into another car.

The dead man was named by a neighbour as Derek Stevens, from Halewood, Merseyside. Police, who would not officially name the victim, said he was known to them and had been targeted.

A spokesman said: "We believe that we know his identity. We don't think it's a random shooting.

"The victim died at the scene shortly afterwards. There was a single bullet hole in the windscreen of the vehicle. Emergency services discovered the driver had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. We are treating this as a murder inquiry.

"At this stage we are unable to determine whether or not the gunman was on foot. We doubt it was an experienced gunman." The driver of the other car, aged 36, suffered minor injuries in the crash on Saturday night.

Police said formal identification of the dead man would take place today after a postmortem examination.

Last night, a tearful woman in her mid-30s answered the door of Mr Stevens' terraced home in Halewood.

Asked to comment on the shooting she replied: "No. Sorry" and shut the door. A neighbour, who refused to be identified, confirmed that Mr Stevens had been involved in the shooting but said:"I don't want to say anything else."

In another incident, a man of 21 was shot in the leg on Saturday in Kensington, Liverpool.